


A Handful of Days

by rainbowblue13



Category: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 09:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8323444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowblue13/pseuds/rainbowblue13
Summary: Claire doesn't want to be sick, for more reasons than one.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt I came up with and decided to actually write down while I work on my other fic, especially since Claire doesn't get a lot of love. Special thanks to Ren for reading this prior and overall helping me brainstorm a bunch of stuff for these kids.

It had been seven months, two weeks and a handful of days since Claire Densmore had been sick. She was very careful not to, always washing her hands, eating her vegetables and covering up when it was cold. But despite her efforts, seven months, two weeks and a handful of days plus one later the peculiar girl woke up to a dry throat and a mild cough.

Claire was determined, however, and she pushed the thought aside; she got dressed as she always did and brushed her hair as she always did, only pausing when she had a coughing fit.

She went through the day with her symptoms unnoticed, Miss Peregrine being too occupied fretting over a nightmare Horace had the night before. Bronwyn stopped to ask the girl if she was feeling alright and she nodded fervently, hoping her enthusiasm would mask the slight headache that just started blooming.

She sat on the school bus next to Olive as they chattered, the floating girl excitedly describing why she loved the lithe, agile and serious alien of the show they watched. Then Claire explained why she preferred the purple-skinned, rowdy counterpart (she particularly liked how the character ate absolutely anything). The two got off the bus and went to their separate classes, and she managed to get through school without any hurdles, though her headache got progressively worse.

When the last bell rang, Claire heaved a sigh of relief. She desperately wanted to go home and sleep all afternoon. Unfortunately for the back mouthed girl, however, Miss Peregrine had chosen that very day to be a "bonding day", in which everyone had to, quite literally, bond with each other without the distractions of toys or newfangled technology. Claire usually adored these days, but today she found it dreadful, barely conversing with anyone and mostly sticking close to Millard. She'd be around Bronwyn usually, but she was afraid the girl would notice her brewing illness. Millard, on the other hand, took her recluseness as simple shyness and let her be, only occasionally trying to start up conversation.

Finally, her bedtime arrived and she got into bed without protest, falling into a deep sleep. _Hopefully_ , she thought, _a good night's sleep will make me feel all better_.

Claire found herself sorely mistaken when she awoke to a now body-shaking cough and a clogged nose. 

Olive, her roomate, poked her sleepily. "C'mon, we've got to go to school."

Claire tried to reply. "I'm getting up." she mumbled, though it came out as "I'm gedding ub."

The older girl frowned. "Are you ill?"

She shook her head. "I'm fide–" followed by a series of coughs.

Olive went up to their bedroom door, opening it wide and shouting out, "MISS PEREGRIIIIINE, CLAIRE IS SIIIIICK!"

A few minutes of the Bird checking her temperature later, she stated that Claire was terribly sick and was to stay home from school today, no exceptions.

"Awww, why does Claire get to not go to school?" Olive pouted, closing her school backpack.

"Because she's sick you twit, the Bird just said so." Enoch snapped.

"Mister O'Connor, that language is unacceptable, and as a reward you are now to take Olive to her bus stop."

"But I'll be late!" Enoch whined.

"I don't want him to take me!" Olive protested.

"No ands, ifs or buts. Off you go, or you really  _will_ be late." She shooed the two children away, Enoch grumbling as he crossed the crowd of peculiars that swamped around the doorway, pulling a pouting Olive behind him.

"This isn't a sideshow children, there's no need for you to gather like this. You should go get ready for school as well. We don't want anyone else to become ill as well." Miss Peregrine added, giving all of the peculiars a pointed look.

Most of them scattered, but a few lingered stubbornly, particularly Bronwyn and Hugh.

"Will she be alright?" Bronwyn asked, her face taught with concern.

"Yes Miss Bruntley, I'll stay here to care for her, worry not."

Claire suddenly felt herself go a little dizzy, her head spinning.

"I don't know, maybe I should stay to take care of her too, just in case."

Miss Peregrine was about to tell her that there was no need before Claire yelled out a frantic "No!", startling everyone in the room.

"Do not fret, Miss Densmore. Miss Bruntley will go to school as per usual and I'll be here to take care of you."

The peculiar girl shook her head fervently, her lips beginning to quiver. "No!"

"No _what_?" the ymbryne asked calmly.

"I don't want anyone to stay!" Claire's nose had cleared up a little, allowing her to speak with less trouble. "I don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Oh Claire, the Bird isn't gonna get the flu from taking care of you, she's done it plenty times before!" Hugh reminded her, a couple of bees buzzing out of his mouth.

Claire shook her head again, tears welling in her eyes. "No, I don't want them to get hurt like Fiona!"

A heavy silence filled the room at the mention of the name and the girl started crying.

"Oh, oh Claire no, that wasn't your fault at all." Bronwyn assured her as she swiftly approached her, holding the younger girl as she sobbed.

"Buh- but if she hadn't st- stayed, then she wuh- wouldn't have– she wouldn't–" Claire's sentence was interrupted by her own sobs, her back mouth wailing in unison.

"Shhh, just let it out." Bronwyn whispered, rocking the girl back and forth. She gave Miss Peregrine a nod, a subtle way of saying  _I got it_ as the ymbryne slipped out of the room, leading a shell-shocked Hugh out into the hallway.

Minutes of intense crying later, Claire had fallen asleep against Bronwyn, her face still streaked with tears. By the time she woke, Bronwyn was gone and Miss Peregrine was placing a cup of tea on her nightstand. The Bird put a hand to Claire's forehead and asked how she was feeling. The girl shrugged.

Miss Peregrine sat down on a chair that had been set next to the bed and straightened herself. "Miss Densmore, I want you to understand that what happened to Miss–" she paused, pursing her lips. "What happened to Fiona was terrible. But it was in no way because of your actions. She chose to stay and take care of you, and you couldn't help that you were ill, as you are now. No one will be injured simply from taking care of you, I can assure you."

Claire sniffled. "She shouldn't have."

"Excuse me?"

"Fiona shouldn't have stayed to take care of me."

The ymbryne was silent for a moment. "I believe it would be better not to dwell on what-ifs, Miss Densmore. Now, you are to get plenty of rest and water. When you are feeling better, Mister Apiston would like to show you something."

And without another word, Miss Peregrine hurriedly left her room, one hand suspiciously reaching up to wipe her eyes.

Half a glass of water, a whole tissue box and a nap later, Claire gently got up from her bed and creeped down the hall, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a cape. She trudged towards the third room down the hall and tentatively knocked, standing on her tiptoes as she did.

A few moments later, the door opened and revealed a weary-eyed Hugh, his hair unkempt. 

"Hey Claire!" He offered her a smile when his eyes landed on the sick girl. "Are you feeling any better?"

She nodded meekly, rocking on the balls of her feet. "Miss Peregrine said you wanted to show me something."

Hugh smiled again, though it looked more somber. "Yeah, I do. Come in, come in."

Claire did just that, clutching her blanket and sneezing once the boy had closed the bedroom door.

"Bless you." he said

"Thank you," Claire replied, her eyebrows suddenly knitting together. "Did you stay home from school too?"

"Yeah, I did." She waited for him to elaborate, but Hugh simply sighed and walked up to one of his many shelves.

Since the children had moved into the Portman's house, they had all taken to decorating. While some chose to keep their rooms simple, like Enoch and Bronwyn, others had gone all out embellishing their current home. A prime example was Olive, who had gotten a load of trinkets such as fairy lights and glow-in-the-dark star stickers to haphazardly place around her and Claire's room. A close second had been Hugh.

Unlike Olive, who had gotten all of her decorations in the span of a few days, his collection had slowly but steadily grown throughout the course of months. It started with a single geranium pot Hugh purchased one day he had accompanied Miss Peregrine to a department store. He later got a ficus. Then a batch of daisies. He now had dozens upon dozens of plants that were placed across his entire room. Hugh delicately walked the line of being a pack rat and a passionate collector, but no one had had the heart to call him out on it besides Enoch, who once told him having this giant plant collection was weird. "And keeping countless jars of animal hearts in your room is perfectly normal, I suppose?" Hugh retorted. Enoch had said nothing about the subject since.

A couple of bees buzzed around Hugh as he approached a particular potted plant with big, blooming flowers tainted a light pink. He picked it up and walked back to Claire, kneeling down to her eye level.

"Do you like it?" he asked, holding it out for her to inspect it closer.

Claire curiously edged closer, reaching out her hand to touch the petals. "It's really pretty," she awed.

Hugh placed the pot on her small, dainty hands, sitting back. "It's yours."

The girl was so shocked she almost dropped the flowers, gawking at him. He had _never_ let anyone touch his plants, much less have them. (this restriction was stricter when it came to Emma, for obvious reasons).

"Really?" she asked, her eyes still wide. Hugh nodded, sighing deeply.

"You know, I was– I _am_ very sad whenever I think of Fiona. Even if she made the fall– and I truly believe she did– she wasn't there when that loop was destroyed, so she would still have to stay in a loop forever," He paused, taking a shaky breath. "And that's why I started getting these plants. To have something that was  _hers_ here with us.

"And I know everyone thinks me hoarding all of these," He gestured vaguely at the quantity of plants scattered throughout his room, "Is weird, and for a while I felt like– like no one but me cared that Fiona was gone. Not even the Bird." Hugh's voice broke when he said Fiona's name. He huffed, a bee slipping back into his mouth, and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be dumping this on you."

There was a lapse of silence, and Claire sat down in front of Hugh, holding the carnations between her legs. 

"She used to make me and Olive flower crowns."

The boy looked up in surprise, his bees buzzing around him. "She did, didn't she?" he mused.

"She'd make the crowns and one for herself too, and we'd play all day, the princesses of Cairnholm!" she told him excitedly. "And one time, when I climbed too far up the tree and I got really scared, Fiona made the tree branches let me down, and she had a big, soft batch of grass to cushion me when I got to the floor."

Hugh chuckled softly, readjusting the goggles on his forehead. "One time, when we were out in the garden, she grew a small bush of cherry blossoms and had the petals shower over, like in those cartoon shows that Bronwyn and Emma watch, and then we layed down the batch of petals and watched the clouds."

"I was _wondering_  what those pink little things were!" 

And that's how they spent the next couple hours, exchanging stories and funny moments, and serious ones too. Not all of them involved Fiona, but most of them did, and they were still talking by the time everyone got home from school.

Both of them headed downstairs, greeting the other children. Bronwyn fussed over Claire while Olive told her about all of the boring stuff the girl got to miss by staying home.  Then Jacob asked her where she got the flowers she was still holding.

"Hugh gave them to me." she told them very matter-of-factly.

Everyone turned to look at him, and Hugh shifted in his place.

"I call bull." Enoch stated.

"Mister O'Connor–" Miss Peregrine started.

"What, I didn't swear!" he protested, throwing out his hands.

"It's true, he did! Tell them, Hugh!" Claire insisted, turning to look at him.

He shrugged, looking flustered. "It's not a big deal."

"'Not a big deal', he says! You don't let me within a yard's distance of your plants!" Emma exclaimed.

"Oh, that might just be because of the fact that _your hands are always on fire, Emma_." Hugh retorted.

Before she could defend herself, Miss Peregrine diffused the situation by recommending everyone to get ready for lunch. The ymbryne then took Claire's hand and asked her where she wanted to put her new plant. She deliberated strongly for a moment, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Suddenly, her face lit up and she ran to the kitchen, pointing to the window above the sink.

"There!" she exclaimed, but her nose had clogged up again and instead she said, "Dere!" followed by a sneeze.

"That is an excellent choice, Miss Densmore." Miss Peregrine noted, gently taking the flowers from Claire's hands and placing it on the window sill.

It had been seven months, two weeks and a handful of days since the last time Claire Densmore had been sick. She had been very careful not to, ever since the last time she fell ill. But despite her efforts, seven months, two weeks and a handful of days plus one later the peculiar girl found she didn't mind being sick so much anymore.

The carnations glistened in the afternoon sunlight.


End file.
